Cigarette package



Dec. 28, 1943. c. B. KING 2,338,041

0 IGARETTE PACKAGE Filed Nov. 1, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

EELI IELKLTE- ATTORNEYS.

Dec. 28, 1943. c, K I I 2,338,041

0 IGARETTE PACKAGE Filed Nov. 1, 1940 Q 2 SheecS Sheet 2 I k, 4 3 l l [I I I 70 INVENTOR.

Earl E1.Kin 1q BY Z i a 1 ATTORNEY Patented-Doc 28, 1943 v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CIGARETTE PACKAGE Carl B. King, Bluefield, w. Va.

Application November 1, 1940, Serial No. 363,935

1 Claim.

This invention relates to improvements in car-q tons of the type adapted to receive cigarettes, although some features of the invention are adaptable to cartons for other uses.

The primary object of this invention is the provision of an improved cigarette package which conforms in general characteristics to the package construction now used by large manufacturers of cigarettes,-but which is an improvement thereover in the provision of means to provide a neat opening in the package for the removal of individual cigarettes.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a cigarette package which conforms in general characteristics to present day cigarette packages, but which is provided with improved means of a readily accessible nature to permit a person to open a corner of the package at the top thereof, to facilitate the removal of individual cigarettes.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent during the course of the following detailed description.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and wherein similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views,

Figure l is a perspective view of the improved cigarette package.

Figure 2 is a similar view of the cigarette package, but with the Cellophane wrapper torn at the corner and exposing a tab of the package opener. I

Figure 3 is a perspective view showing the tear portion of the cigarette package after it has been moved to tear open a corner of the paper wrapped portion thereof.

Figure 4 is a side elevation of the package, showing an enlarged sectional corner view of the package constructiomat the corner of the package desired to be opened.

Figure 5 is a'developed view of a tear strip adapted to be used with the cigarette package.

Figure 6 is a view of the tear strip (preferred construction) showing an adhesive applied cellulose tab attached thereto.

Figure 7 is an enlarged perspective viewof the cellulose tab end of the tear strip.

Figure 8 is a perspective view showing a tab reinforced portion of the Cellophanewrapper, provided to facilitate tearing open of the "Cellophane wrapper.

Figure 9 is a developed view showing the construction of the inner paper and tinfoil linings ordinarily provided in cigarette packages.

Figure 10 is a developed view of the Cellophane wrapper.

Figure 11 is a fragmentary developed view of .the upper portion of the conventional outer paper jacket of the package.

Figure 12 is a view similar to Figure 4, but showing a modified tear strip construction.

Figure 13 is a perspective view of the modified form of tear strip.

In the drawings, wherein for the purpose of illustration are shown preferred and modified forms of the invention, the letter A may generally designate the cigarette package Which includes an inner flexible paper and tinfoil jacket B, which may be of one or two layers. In the conventional construction the inner jackets provide an inner paper portion and an outer tinfoil portion. An outer paper cigarette jacket C is provided, upon which the printing, labels, etc., of the package are placed, and the jackets B and C are enclosed with the usual Cellophane wrapper or sheet E. An improved tear strip construction D is provided as a part of the package, and a modified form of tear strip construction F may be provided, if so desired.

Referring to the inner paper lining and the similar tinfoil lining which is ordinarily placed externally upon the inner paper lining, both are of the same construction, as shown in Figure 9, and include a front wall portion Ill, side wall portions II and I2, and flaps l3 and I4 adapted to fold over each other and provide a rear wall portion. The dotted line shown in Figure 9 shows the fold lines, and'below the dotted fold line l5, flaps and walls above mentioned are extended to provide bottom flaps forming a bottom wall for the inside lining of the container, and similarly above the dotted line l6 all of the walls and flaps above mentioned are extended except the wall II, which terminates on the line l6, to provide a notched out portion I! throughwhich the tear strip E extends in a manner to be subsequently described. A cigarette removing slot or notch 18 is further provided in a wall portion ll below the line It, through which single cigarettes may readily be grasped'and then extracted from the package.

The outer wrapper construction C is usually of paper and of the same construction as the inside linings above described'except that the top edge 20 of this outer jacket terminates in a plane substantially flush with the dotted line l6 of the inner linings. That is, the paper jacket C does not extend over the top of the package. A side.

wall portion 2| of this jacket C overlies the side walls Ii of the inner linings and is notched at 25 similar to the notch l8 provided on the inner linings of the package, and for the same purpose.

to initially open a corner of the package in a neat and clean cut relation. However, this strip E has another function, in that it acts as a sealing closure for closing the package after a cigarette.

has been removed. In the preferred construction D, the strip includes a rectangular body por-- tion 40 and longitudinal side edges 4| which are doubled upon the body of the strip, as a reinforcing expedient, and also to provide arcuate edges which will insure a neat tear of the linings and other package layers of the container. This strip D is of a width equal to the width of the package or container and is adapted to lie beneath the top wall structure formed by the inner linings B. .The strip may be made of material which is inherently flexible, but firmer and less capable of being bent or distorted than the other package layers of the container, such as light aluminum or heavy metal foil; its inherent nature being such that when it is lifted it will insure a tearing of the top wall structure of the lining and packaging of the cigarette package at the longitudinal edges thereof, as is shown in Figure 3 of the drawings; On one end the tear strip D is provided with a -flnger engaging tab 45, preferably of gelatinized cellulose material,

- although the tab may be of any other material if so desired. The tear strip body 40 in order to insure the attachment of this tab 45 is reduced at one end, as at 41, andiprovided with laterally extending ears 48. The tab 45 is secured upon the reduced extended portion of the strip body 40 by clamping the ear portions 48 thereupon and crimping them in place. This tab 45 extends beyond the top wall of the package, and is adapted to overlie the side wall II of the package Jacket C, as is shown in the drawings. A portion of the strip'body 40 also overlies this side wall of the package, as is shown in Figure 1. The cellulose tab 45 is preferably provided on the under surface'which faces the side wall 2| of the package .Jacket C with some water insoluble adhes ve,

shown at 55 in Figure '7 of the drawings, which adheres'to an adhesive engaging piece 56 secured upon the exterior surface of the side wall 2| of jacket C. The material of this piece 56 may be cellulose, and its purpose is to facilitate ready attachment of the adhesive 55 thereto, since the tab 45 may be raised time and time again as cigarettes are extracted from the package at various times. If the piece 55 were not provided the adhesive 55 would be apt to tear of! sections of the light paper jacket C.

The manner in which the tear and closure strip D is attached is shown in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings. The strip D is placed under the folds forming the top wall construction of the package, and is preferably secured thereto by means of an adhesive, if the tear-closure strip is of the construction shown at D in Figure 5 of the drawings.

In Figure 13 of the drawings a modified form 4 of tear-closure strip F is shown. It presents the same characteristics as above described for the form of strip D, but has a portion 60 adapted to be positioned along the inside of the package, within the lining B, in order to hold the tear strip 1' in place. With this construction the tearclosure strip F need not be pasted or otherwise secured to the linings and wrappers forming the top wall construction of the container.

The "Cellophane" covering E for the package is generally the same as that provided for conventional cigarette packages, except that the side wall 10 which overlies the wall portion II of the paper jacket C has a separate tab portion H secured only along the fold line I2 which is contiguous with the top plane of the top wall of the package.. This tab portion II has a cellulose reinforced finger engaging end 15. The undersurface of the tab H is of course pasted on top of the adjacent flap portions of the "Cellophane E, but the tab end H lies free so that a user of the package may grasp the same and pull the entire corner of the "Cellophane wrapper freev as shown at in Figure 2 of the drawings. This exposes the tear-closure strip D at its tab end 45. The latter may then be grasped and by lifting the same the operator may tear open the corner of the package, as shown at Figure 3. The cigarettes are then in position to be removed. Thereafter the strip D may be again folded into position and by light pressure the adhesive 55 engaged upon the piece 58 which is positioned permanently upon the side wall I I of the outer paper jacket C of the package.

In order to stiffen the side wall structure of the package, a stiffened cardboard insert 80, shown in dotted lines in' Figure 3 of the drawings, and also in Figure 4 of the drawings, may be placed between the inner paper lining D of the container and the outer Jacket C, at the side wall II. It may extend from the bottom wall of the container to a point above the attached adhesive engaging piece 56, so that the application of pressure upon the tab 45 as the package is sealed after removal of cigarettes will not distort the shape of the package nor injure the cigarettes therein.

Various changes in detail may be made to the form of the invention herein shown and described without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the following claim.

Advertising matter may be placed on the under surface of the tear-closure strip D, similar to that shown in Figure 3.

I claim: 7

In a cigarette package the combination of a package formed of paper material including top, side and other walls, and a tear strip positioned in the package as a permanent part thereof and of a material which is flexible yet inherently more rigid and less tearable than the wall forming materials of the pacakge, so that when it is grasped it may be moved into position to tear the material of the package for opening the package, and an addesive coated tab formed as a part of said tear-closure strip adapted to releasably adhere to a wall of the package other than the is applied.

CARL B. KING. 

